Typically, most animal attachment members such as insecticide tags or animal identification tags require forcing a sharp object through the animal's ear. In most cases the object either fractures of punches a hole in the animal's ear. Once an opening is made in the animal's ear, the ear tag is inserted into the opening or wound. One of the problems with ear tag insertions is that oftentimes bacterial infections occur in the wound. Generally, the infections are slow to heal due to the continued agitation of the wound by the movement of the tag in the wound. One may apply an antiseptic to the wound of course, but unless the antiseptic is applied immediately prior to insertion of the tag into the animal, the antiseptic loses its effectiveness. Consequently, in tagging animals usually no steps are taken to prevent infection since it is both difficult and inefficient to do so. The present invention provides for application of a carrier containing an antiseptic to the animal ear tag, the carrier being capable of withstanding the normal handling of tags prior to and during the application process.